One thing about the 2020 season is that the wubble (WNBA bubble) in Bradenton, Florida was not only an outlet for the players of the WNBA to complete a season under the most unusual of circumstances.
It was also a season in which the W took its activist message to new heights. Even though players were secluded, their message may have reached louder and wider than ever.
Sports Illustrated recently announced its Sportspersons of the Year for 2020. Notables such as LeBron James and Naomi Osaka made the list, as well as Breanna Stewart, one of the most vocal feminist allies and Black Lives Matter supporters within the WNBA’s ranks.
The piece on Stewart written for SI was penned by Megan Rapinoe, fiancé of Stewie’s Seattle Storm teammate Sue Bird.
In addition to the activist message, Bird, Stewart and the Storm won their second WNBA championship in three seasons … and the fourth in franchise history, all with Bird in its ranks.
Watching Stewie stand in front of everyone before that first game and ask for 26 seconds of silence to remember Breonna Taylor, the Black woman who was that age when she wsa killed by police in her Louisville apartment, was powerful.
–Megan Rapinoe (Sports Illustrated)
Rapinoe was referencing the first game of the season when the Storm took on the New York Liberty, whose Layshia Clarendon also gave remarks on what the season was all about prior to the opening tip.
Then she went on the court and was a contender for the league’s MVP, won her second championship with the Seattle Storm and became the Finals MVP. I don’t know if you can fully appreciate how difficult it is to accomplish what she did this season. And she did it in classic, effortless Stewie fashion.
–Megan Rapinoe (Sports Illustrated)
She referenced how it was Stewart’s idea for the WNBA to paint Black Lives Matter on the court this season. Notably, the idea to have Breonna Taylor’s name on the backs of WNBA team jerseys came originally from Angel McCoughtry.
She realizes she has an opportunity to be more than what she is on the court – and also, as a white player in a predominantly Black league, to be an ally, or accomplice. Not a lot of white athletes have done that in the past: said their cause is my cause, and I’m as willing to fight for it as they are.
–Megan Rapinoe (Sports Illustrated)
Thank you @BreannaStewart for the kind words of support! Together, we’ll win. pic.twitter.com/vfbAMXBixR
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) December 2, 2020
“There is a time to speak and a time to listen and hear my teammates out.” –@breannastewart pic.twitter.com/hpaePb57D3
— WNBA (@WNBA) December 7, 2020
Racism is not a Black person’s problem. This is a problem that white people created, and that we’re going to have to face ourselves. You can’t put the burden of progress and change on the oppressed, solely. They’re already doing everything they can to make the world better. So that’s why it matters when you see white athletes like Stewie standing up and saying, Hey we need to do better.
–Megan Rapinoe (Sports Illustrated)
Even with all of the praise Rapinoe gave her for being a white ally – and everything Stewie has done herself to solidify that she is a white ally, not everyone was pleased with SI’s decision, believing one of the WNBA’s Black athletes, such as Natasha Cloud, Layshia Clarendon or Renee Montgomery, who sat out the wubble to focus on social justice initiatives should have been honored instead.
Not much has changed.
I love Breanna Stewart but to name a white woman SI Sportsperson of the Year as an Athlete Activist after all of the work Black women of the WNBA did this year…
We are not doing it right still.
— Kelsey Trainor (@ktrain_11) December 6, 2020
.@SInow messed up by not SOLEY acknowledging the WNBA as the SPORTS ACTIVIST OF THE YEAR! Period. It should have been our whole league(including Stewie) to win this award. The W led this entire sports movement! Disgusted at the constant erasure of black women, queer & trans folks
— Layshia Clarendon (@Layshiac) December 7, 2020
Listen,
In regards to the Stewie’s winning SI, we are extremely proud when our sisters are recognized for their outstanding work and Stewie has been a great ambassador of the game. The outrage has nothing to do with her specifically but more the larger problem.
— Imani McGee-Stafford (@imanitrishawn_) December 7, 2020
SI decided to highlight an athlete activist from the WNBA in 2020 and chose……. Breanna Stewart?
— Wear a mask (@jessicawluther) December 6, 2020
Yes, Breanna Stewart is an excellent athlete and a committed activist.
While she is certainly not undeserving of being named one of Sports Illustrated’s ‘Athlete Activist’ Sportspersons of the Year, her selection is inopportune and off the mark.
— Swish Appeal (@SwishAppeal) December 7, 2020
Thank you Ariel. Thank you Tash. Thank you Renee. Thank you Nneka. Thank you Nat. Thank you. Elizabeth. Thank you Lay. Thank you Satou. Thank you Alysha. Thank you A’ja.
— Arielle (Ari) Chambers (@ariivory) December 6, 2020
